Grace Design m9XX Review
Introduction:
Where I say stuff that you may want to know about myself and my music preferences
There is already many very well done reviews of this product already here on Head-Fi, so I will try and not belabor my points to much for this review, but you may need to put up with a little of my grandiloquence at times! (Got to keep it interesting right?)
First off I would like to describe my music preferences. I think this is an important thing to consider while reading reviews as sound preferences are very unique and personal. I tend to enjoy a more neutral to warm sound, however I do not like extremely rolled off treble. I need a little sparkle in my headphones or they just sound boring and bland. My current favorites are the SRH 1540’s. They have slightly elevated bass and a wonderful treble extension.
I listen to just about every music genre. I mostly listen to classical, singer song-writer, scores and electronic/dance. Yes I do realize those are both large, and widely varying categories. Point being I listen to many types and styles of music.
Full sized headphones used to assess the m9XX were the Shure SRH 1540, Beyerdynamic DT 990 pro (250ohm), and the Beyerdynamic T70p. IEM’s used were the Shure se215, Thinksound Rain2, and RHA s500i.
Overview for m9XX:
Get to know the m9XX on a more personal level
This is one solid piece of hardware. Prior to the m9XX I used the Fiio e17+ e09k combo for my desktop. One excellent thing about the m9XX is that it has such a small form factor. It really takes up less space than my Fiio, which is impressive as that is pretty small already as far as desktop units are concerned. It is very sturdily built. It has a good heft in the hand and certainly gives the feel of being premium.
The m9XX contains two USB inputs. One has a dual purpose of providing both power (low only) and data transfer. The second is strictly for power. Plugging in the second cable enables High Power Mode which will allow you to drive most headphones. In addition to supporting USB audio (both class 1 and 2). You can opt to use the Toslink input as well. Finally it features an RCA out allowing you to either connect another amp of your choosing, or to connect to active speakers (will not drive passive speakers).
Moving to the front of the unit you will find two ¼ jacks for a headphone of your choosing. It is nice to have the option of two in case you wish to share with a friend, or perform quick A/B comparisons of different headphones. Additionally, you will find a small 2 digit display. This little display will tell you all you need to know about what, and how the m9XX is functioning. I was very impressed with how simple the interface was, so kudos to Grace Design and Massdrop for designing an excellent interface.
The owner’s manual is a wealth of information so I will leave a link for your reading pleasure!
http://www.gracedesign.com/support/manuals/m9XX_Owners_Manual_RevE.pdf
Here is another link to other, more in-depth information for the m9XX. You will need to copy and past it, as it wont allow me to create a link for some odd reason.
http://www.gracedesign.com/support/whitepapers/m9XX_tech_discussion_Rev3.pdf
Sound:
Listen to that music!
If I had to describe the sound characteristics of this device I would say it is near neutral with excellent clarity and refinement. Distortion is noticeably lower than my old Fiio set-up. It definitely smooth’s the upper treble a bit, which dramatically decreases some grain found in some tracks. Furthermore it has a nice tight bass response. It is very noticeable on the SRH 1540 which can occasionally suffer from bass bloat in the mids. This has been reduce and has strengthened the overall clarity. Overall it has a wonderful, easy to like sound signature. Having said this it may not pair well with certain headphones according to some reviewers, but I cannot comment on this as it seems pair well with all of my cans.
There are two other important features about this device’s sound. The first being the filters. Grace Design describes the filters like this:
“DAC FILTER Changes the response of the digital filter. Push and release the encoder to scroll through the filter response modes:
F1 = sharp roll off, linear phase
For linear phase response and time coherency. Fast roll off protects against aliasing distortion from high amplitude high frequency content. Best for recordings that are loud, compressed, and with lots of treble. Will contain substantial ringing before and after transients (pre-echo and post-echo). Note that the ringing occurs at the Nyquist frequency (½ of the sample rate), so it is not directly audible. However, it can cause intermodulation distortion in downstream components.
F2 = slow roll off, linear phase
For linear phase response and time coherency. Best for acoustic music without compression and artificially high levels of treble. Will have very low levels of ringing before and after transients but is susceptible to distortion artifacts caused by high amplitude high frequency information in the program material.
F3 = sharp roll off, minimum phase
Not linear phase in the pass band. Fast roll off protects against aliasing distortion from high amplitude high frequency content. Best for recordings that are loud, compressed, and with lots of treble. Will contain substantial ringing caused by transients, but all of the ringing is shifted to after the transient. This can reduce the perceived effects off downstream intermodulation distortion due to the Hass Effect.
F4 = slow roll off, minimum phase
Not linear phase in the pass band. Best for acoustic music without compression and artificially high levels of treble. Will have very low level of ringing caused by transients and ringing will be shifted to after the transient.”
Truthfully they all sound very similar and I was not able to tell much difference between all of the filters. I decided to leave it at F1. It paired best with my SRH 1540’s simply because it smoothed the notorious treble spike it has. I do think the name is misleading however. The name “Sharp roll off” seems to imply that the treble is going to drop off the face of the earth and be non-existent. This is not true. Instead it is simply smoothed and given less edge. This was also helpful for my T70ps as they are exceedingly bright at times.
The second aspect that I really find myself enjoying is the crossfeed feature. Some of you may be wondering “what the heck is crossfeed?” Crossfeed is really an ingenious way to help eliminate the polarization that occurs while listening to music through headphones. When you listen to music through speakers both of your ears hear the music, but one ear hears the signal a little louder than the other (the one that is closest to the source). Using these varying signal inputs your brain can calculate the special awareness of the music in the room. By applying crossfeed you enable a similar effect, but with your headphones. It is employed very well and truly does make for a much more natural listening experience. Most noticeable changes are: Increased sound stage, better separation, and better imaging. The only drawback is it has the potential to suck the mids out a bit. This is only a problem with extremely U shaped headphones, like the DT 990. With crossfeed on the mids were sucked way out, making vocals sound faint and muffled. In contrast both the Shure 1540’s and T70p’s (both more midcentric) sound sublime with crossfeed enabled.
Amp:
Better than the energy drink!
I won’t talk too long about the amp section, as they are not an area I feel well versed in, and there is much discussion already here on Head-Fi in the forum. What I can say is that it powers all of my headphones exceedingly well and has a velvety black noise floor thanks to the ultra-low output of 0.08 ohms. This includes sensitive IEM’s as well, although there is white noise present, it is very negligible and not noticeable at all while music is playing.
Portability
Meant for a desk? Or for the road
This device is certainly compact. Because of this compactness many have decided to use it as an on-the-go companion. For me personally it is not a viable simply because I have other portable options that are far more compact (Fiio K1). While they do not offer nearly the level of audio quality that the m9XX offers, I am willing to sacrifice for more portability.
Having said this, the m9XX can certainly be used as a portable. This is because of the ability for it to be driven without a power adapter. This does limit you slightly as hard to drive headphones will not work as well, however these types of headphones are rarely used as portables. So, if you are looking for an al-in-one solution for both a desktop, portable, and was the best from your music the m9XX should certainly be on your short list. It is essentially a far more portable version of the Schiit Bifrost. I do want to clarify though, I have never personally heard the Bifrost. I make this statement for a few reasons. One it has the same chipset so this would mean they may have similar characteristics (although this is not always true). Secondly, I make this statement based on several other users stating they have similar, albeit different characteristics when it comes to quality.
Weaknesses of the m9XX
Everything has a weakness…
Over my course of having the m9XX I have really only found one weakness that I truly do dislike. The easy mute feature is nice as it allows the user to quickly silence the music. What I noticed, while testing with my t70p and with my IEM’s was that there is an audible hum noise (almost like interference) when initially pressed. What is more interesting is that this humming disappears once the screen is dimmed, assuming that feature is enabled. If it is not enabled than the hum persists until the music resumes being played. What is concerning is that it seems directly tied to the display, which means it is potentially causing interference any time it is on. I have yet to read anyone else having this issue so it is possible that it is strictly my device.
Luckily, however, it does not seem to affect the music whilst it is playing, as I tested this with quiet tracks. I cranked the volume and there was no hum until muted. My thought is that the hum is somehow tied into the mechanism that causes the screen to pulsate, indicating the music is muted.
*EDIT*
I contacted Grace Design about this issue and the told me this:
Final Verdict
So what do I think?
I personally think this is an amazing device. Given its price point it is both an investment, but also a bargain. The only real improvement a person could make would be in the amp. This is truly only necessary if you have hard to drive headphones (above 300 ohms). It has wonderful music separation and greatly reduces distortion in the upper treble region. It will also tighten up the bass response allowing for a nice, tight, impact. It has been known not to pair well with some headphones, but for me it pairs well with all of my headphones, so long as I take crossfeed off when listening to the DT 990’s. All I can ultimately say is: Well done Grace Design and Massdrop for bringing a wonderful device to the audiophile community!
Questions? Comments? Please let me know!
Introduction:
Where I say stuff that you may want to know about myself and my music preferences
There is already many very well done reviews of this product already here on Head-Fi, so I will try and not belabor my points to much for this review, but you may need to put up with a little of my grandiloquence at times! (Got to keep it interesting right?)
First off I would like to describe my music preferences. I think this is an important thing to consider while reading reviews as sound preferences are very unique and personal. I tend to enjoy a more neutral to warm sound, however I do not like extremely rolled off treble. I need a little sparkle in my headphones or they just sound boring and bland. My current favorites are the SRH 1540’s. They have slightly elevated bass and a wonderful treble extension.
I listen to just about every music genre. I mostly listen to classical, singer song-writer, scores and electronic/dance. Yes I do realize those are both large, and widely varying categories. Point being I listen to many types and styles of music.
Full sized headphones used to assess the m9XX were the Shure SRH 1540, Beyerdynamic DT 990 pro (250ohm), and the Beyerdynamic T70p. IEM’s used were the Shure se215, Thinksound Rain2, and RHA s500i.
Overview for m9XX:
Get to know the m9XX on a more personal level
This is one solid piece of hardware. Prior to the m9XX I used the Fiio e17+ e09k combo for my desktop. One excellent thing about the m9XX is that it has such a small form factor. It really takes up less space than my Fiio, which is impressive as that is pretty small already as far as desktop units are concerned. It is very sturdily built. It has a good heft in the hand and certainly gives the feel of being premium.
The m9XX contains two USB inputs. One has a dual purpose of providing both power (low only) and data transfer. The second is strictly for power. Plugging in the second cable enables High Power Mode which will allow you to drive most headphones. In addition to supporting USB audio (both class 1 and 2). You can opt to use the Toslink input as well. Finally it features an RCA out allowing you to either connect another amp of your choosing, or to connect to active speakers (will not drive passive speakers).
Moving to the front of the unit you will find two ¼ jacks for a headphone of your choosing. It is nice to have the option of two in case you wish to share with a friend, or perform quick A/B comparisons of different headphones. Additionally, you will find a small 2 digit display. This little display will tell you all you need to know about what, and how the m9XX is functioning. I was very impressed with how simple the interface was, so kudos to Grace Design and Massdrop for designing an excellent interface.
The owner’s manual is a wealth of information so I will leave a link for your reading pleasure!
http://www.gracedesign.com/support/manuals/m9XX_Owners_Manual_RevE.pdf
Here is another link to other, more in-depth information for the m9XX. You will need to copy and past it, as it wont allow me to create a link for some odd reason.
http://www.gracedesign.com/support/whitepapers/m9XX_tech_discussion_Rev3.pdf
Sound:
Listen to that music!
If I had to describe the sound characteristics of this device I would say it is near neutral with excellent clarity and refinement. Distortion is noticeably lower than my old Fiio set-up. It definitely smooth’s the upper treble a bit, which dramatically decreases some grain found in some tracks. Furthermore it has a nice tight bass response. It is very noticeable on the SRH 1540 which can occasionally suffer from bass bloat in the mids. This has been reduce and has strengthened the overall clarity. Overall it has a wonderful, easy to like sound signature. Having said this it may not pair well with certain headphones according to some reviewers, but I cannot comment on this as it seems pair well with all of my cans.
There are two other important features about this device’s sound. The first being the filters. Grace Design describes the filters like this:
“DAC FILTER Changes the response of the digital filter. Push and release the encoder to scroll through the filter response modes:
F1 = sharp roll off, linear phase
For linear phase response and time coherency. Fast roll off protects against aliasing distortion from high amplitude high frequency content. Best for recordings that are loud, compressed, and with lots of treble. Will contain substantial ringing before and after transients (pre-echo and post-echo). Note that the ringing occurs at the Nyquist frequency (½ of the sample rate), so it is not directly audible. However, it can cause intermodulation distortion in downstream components.
F2 = slow roll off, linear phase
For linear phase response and time coherency. Best for acoustic music without compression and artificially high levels of treble. Will have very low levels of ringing before and after transients but is susceptible to distortion artifacts caused by high amplitude high frequency information in the program material.
F3 = sharp roll off, minimum phase
Not linear phase in the pass band. Fast roll off protects against aliasing distortion from high amplitude high frequency content. Best for recordings that are loud, compressed, and with lots of treble. Will contain substantial ringing caused by transients, but all of the ringing is shifted to after the transient. This can reduce the perceived effects off downstream intermodulation distortion due to the Hass Effect.
F4 = slow roll off, minimum phase
Not linear phase in the pass band. Best for acoustic music without compression and artificially high levels of treble. Will have very low level of ringing caused by transients and ringing will be shifted to after the transient.”
Truthfully they all sound very similar and I was not able to tell much difference between all of the filters. I decided to leave it at F1. It paired best with my SRH 1540’s simply because it smoothed the notorious treble spike it has. I do think the name is misleading however. The name “Sharp roll off” seems to imply that the treble is going to drop off the face of the earth and be non-existent. This is not true. Instead it is simply smoothed and given less edge. This was also helpful for my T70ps as they are exceedingly bright at times.
The second aspect that I really find myself enjoying is the crossfeed feature. Some of you may be wondering “what the heck is crossfeed?” Crossfeed is really an ingenious way to help eliminate the polarization that occurs while listening to music through headphones. When you listen to music through speakers both of your ears hear the music, but one ear hears the signal a little louder than the other (the one that is closest to the source). Using these varying signal inputs your brain can calculate the special awareness of the music in the room. By applying crossfeed you enable a similar effect, but with your headphones. It is employed very well and truly does make for a much more natural listening experience. Most noticeable changes are: Increased sound stage, better separation, and better imaging. The only drawback is it has the potential to suck the mids out a bit. This is only a problem with extremely U shaped headphones, like the DT 990. With crossfeed on the mids were sucked way out, making vocals sound faint and muffled. In contrast both the Shure 1540’s and T70p’s (both more midcentric) sound sublime with crossfeed enabled.
Amp:
Better than the energy drink!
I won’t talk too long about the amp section, as they are not an area I feel well versed in, and there is much discussion already here on Head-Fi in the forum. What I can say is that it powers all of my headphones exceedingly well and has a velvety black noise floor thanks to the ultra-low output of 0.08 ohms. This includes sensitive IEM’s as well, although there is white noise present, it is very negligible and not noticeable at all while music is playing.
Portability
Meant for a desk? Or for the road
This device is certainly compact. Because of this compactness many have decided to use it as an on-the-go companion. For me personally it is not a viable simply because I have other portable options that are far more compact (Fiio K1). While they do not offer nearly the level of audio quality that the m9XX offers, I am willing to sacrifice for more portability.
Having said this, the m9XX can certainly be used as a portable. This is because of the ability for it to be driven without a power adapter. This does limit you slightly as hard to drive headphones will not work as well, however these types of headphones are rarely used as portables. So, if you are looking for an al-in-one solution for both a desktop, portable, and was the best from your music the m9XX should certainly be on your short list. It is essentially a far more portable version of the Schiit Bifrost. I do want to clarify though, I have never personally heard the Bifrost. I make this statement for a few reasons. One it has the same chipset so this would mean they may have similar characteristics (although this is not always true). Secondly, I make this statement based on several other users stating they have similar, albeit different characteristics when it comes to quality.
Weaknesses of the m9XX
Everything has a weakness…
Over my course of having the m9XX I have really only found one weakness that I truly do dislike. The easy mute feature is nice as it allows the user to quickly silence the music. What I noticed, while testing with my t70p and with my IEM’s was that there is an audible hum noise (almost like interference) when initially pressed. What is more interesting is that this humming disappears once the screen is dimmed, assuming that feature is enabled. If it is not enabled than the hum persists until the music resumes being played. What is concerning is that it seems directly tied to the display, which means it is potentially causing interference any time it is on. I have yet to read anyone else having this issue so it is possible that it is strictly my device.
Luckily, however, it does not seem to affect the music whilst it is playing, as I tested this with quiet tracks. I cranked the volume and there was no hum until muted. My thought is that the hum is somehow tied into the mechanism that causes the screen to pulsate, indicating the music is muted.
*EDIT*
I contacted Grace Design about this issue and the told me this:
Final Verdict
So what do I think?
I personally think this is an amazing device. Given its price point it is both an investment, but also a bargain. The only real improvement a person could make would be in the amp. This is truly only necessary if you have hard to drive headphones (above 300 ohms). It has wonderful music separation and greatly reduces distortion in the upper treble region. It will also tighten up the bass response allowing for a nice, tight, impact. It has been known not to pair well with some headphones, but for me it pairs well with all of my headphones, so long as I take crossfeed off when listening to the DT 990’s. All I can ultimately say is: Well done Grace Design and Massdrop for bringing a wonderful device to the audiophile community!
Questions? Comments? Please let me know!